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Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte hands ‘queen of fake news’ Mocha Uson plum overseas workers post
- Model and sex coach is now deputy administrator at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, which caters to millions of Filipinos abroad
- But critics say her appointment runs against the constitution owing to her losing bid in congressional elections earlier this year
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In a move critics say flouts the Philippine constitution, President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed a failed congressional candidate and an ardent supporter to a key position dealing with overseas workers.
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According to a list of presidential appointees released on Monday, Esther Margaux Uson was made deputy administrator for media affairs at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on September 23.
The post caters to the roughly two million Filipinos employed overseas, whose remittances make a major contribution to the country’s economy. The Philippine central bank says the amount of money sent back to the Philippines in 2017 reached US$28.1 billion, nearly 10 per cent of gross domestic product.
Mocha Uson, as she is more popularly known, has been called the “queen of fake news” for her Facebook posts, which many Filipinos have taken issue with.
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A dancer, model and sex coach, she played a key role in Duterte’s presidential campaign earlier this year. She was appointed to two prior positions in the government but resigned from both, and then ran for Congress in May, losing spectacularly. Uson’s Facebook account has 5.78 million followers, yet her party-list in the polls only garnered 116,000 votes, or 0.43 per cent of the votes cast.
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